Life in the Scriptures has a new format that will spend a Year in the New Testament, in a book-by-book journey reading one chapter per day. This approach enables busy people to have daily Bible readings, and to increase their familiarity with the people, places, and teachings of the New Testament. It is a profitable and helpful Bible study method. May God bless it to you.

September 30, 2012

Monday
after the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Lectionary

Morning - Ps.18:1-20, 1 Kings, 12:1-11, 1
Thess. 5:12

Evening - Ps. 7, Job 3:1-20, Mt. 12:1-13

Commentary, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

1 Thessalonians closes with words that
are full of practical wisdom and truth, yet are so clear they need little
explanation. The relationship between
the Church and her ministers is addressed in verses 12 and 13. The ministers are described as
"over" the Church in verse 12.
This means they have the responsibility for overseeing the work and
ministry of the Church, especially the ministry of the word and
sacraments. It also means to care for
the souls of the members, and has a note of authority in it. They have
authority to "admonish," which means to give encouragement and hope,
and to correct errors and call people to Godliness, through the public ministry
of teaching and preaching, and through the private ministry of personal
visitation and counsel. They also have
authority to discipline people who have fallen into serious and unrepentant
sin. The minister is to labour for the
Church. He is to spend himself, and to be spent in the service of the people,
in order lead them into the things of God.

The Church is to "know" her
ministers, meaning to recognise their service, their sacrifices, and their
self-giving love on their behalf. It
also means they are to recognise the true ministers, and distinguish them from
the false teachers. The Church is to
esteem her ministers, which is to hold them in high regard; not just regard,
but love.

The end of verse 13 turns to the
relationships of the people within the Church, beginning with the encouragement
to "be at peace among yourselves."
14 and 15 continue in this theme, and are so clear that no explanation
of their intent is necessary.

Verses 16-28 give several short
exhortations, most of which are self explanatory. Verse 20, "Despise not prophesyings,"
puzzles some until it is remembered that God continued to send prophets to His
people in the early days of the New Testament Church. The prophets were enabled to expound and
apply the Old Testament Scriptures to the Church. Thus, their ministry was primarily one of
preaching the Gospel prior to the writing of the New Testament Scriptures. The office of the prophet has now been replaced
by preaching, which is the exposition and application of the Bible.

Tuesday
after the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Lectionary

Morning - Ps. 20, 23, 1 Kings 12:12-20, 2
Thessalonians 1

Evening - Ps 11, 12, Job 4:12, Mt.
12:14-30

Commentary, 2 Thessalonians 1

Like 1 Thessalonians, Second
Thessalonians was written by the Apostle Paul from Corinth in or around the year 52 A.D. Timothy had been sent by Paul to Thessalonica
and had probably spent a couple of months there completing the task of organising
the church and instructing the clergy and congregation in the doctrines of the
faith (1 Thess. 3:2). Because Paul was anxious to hear back from him about the
safety and progress of the Thessalonians, Timothy went to Corinth, where Paul was teaching at that
time, and gave the Apostle the good news that the Thessalonians were
persevering well in the faith (3:6). He was sent back to Thessalonica almost
immediately, bearing a letter from Paul, which we know as the book of 1
Thessalonians. One of the purposes of
the letter was to inform the Church that Christians who die before Christ
returns to bring the Day of the Lord to complete fulness, will not miss
out. They will have a prominent role in
the events of Christ's Return, and are now with Him in Heaven (1 Thess.
4:13-17, see also 2. Cor. 5:8). Timothy,
returning to Thessalonica with this letter, probably spent several more weeks
in that city, teaching the Church to know and follow the Saviour, Christ. At
length he returned to Corinth
to work with Paul and report back on the situation in Thessalonica. Continuing questions and issues in Thessalonica
caused Paul to send Timothy back to it, this time carrying another letter from
Paul, which we know as 2 Thessalonians.

Apparently the persecution in Thessalonica
continued, even months after Paul left the city, for 2 Thessalonians opens by
addressing it. The Christians are
commended for their patience and faith in their persecutions and tribulations
(1:4), and, especially that their faith and love "groweth
exceedingly" in spite of their sufferings, (1:3).

Verses 5-11 refer specifically to the
fate of the persecutors, and the result of enduring persecution in the lives of
the Thessalonians. For the Christians it
is a sign of God's favour, for they have been counted worthy of the Kingdom of God, and worthy to suffer for it. Had they been unworthy, had their faith been
simply an emotional response to the manipulations of the many false teachers of
the era, they would not have withstood persecution. Standing firm shows the
reality and depth of their faith. Theirs
is a worthy faith.

It is always easy to go over to the other
side; to abandon the true faith for the easy believism offered by those who
preach a different gospel and a different Christ. Today many call themselves Christians, whose
faith is really about emotional experiences, self-esteem, or getting worldly
goods and miracles from God. These
people leave their faith as soon as the church "services" fail keep
them entertained, which is why so many churches feel the need to constantly be
on the cutting edge of music and cultural trends. Or, finding that the promised health and
wealth miracles do not come, they leave their faith behind. In short, when their faith requires anything
from them, they find they have nothing to give because they have received
nothing. The Thessalonians had received
the Gospel of Christ. They had received
life through His atoning sacrifice. They
had received the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the means of grace. They did not expect God to make life easy for
them. Their church was born in
persecution, and they expected following Christ to be costly. Thus they were able to persevere.

Yet they did not expect their persecutors
to get away with their evil, and Paul makes it clear that their tormentors will
suffer terrible consequences for their actions.
Paul remembers that persecuting Christ's Church is persecuting Him (Acts
9:4), as every sin against the Church is a sin against God, and he shows that
God will repay the persecutors with tribulation (1:6), just as He will repay
the faithful with "rest" (1:7).
When He comes with His angels to bring in the fullness of His Day, the
tormentors will be cast into the fire and punished with everlasting
destruction, banned forever from the presence and glory of God (1:8-10). This fate awaits all "that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1:8).
Notice again that it is "that day," the Day of the Lord that
Paul refers to. This is the Second
Coming of our Lord, in glory and power to put all things right (1:10).

Paul ends the first chapter with a
prayer. There is no asking for
deliverance from suffering in it. There
is no asking that the persecution will end.
Instead he prays that the Thessalonians will continue to prove
themselves worthy of their calling in Christ as they persevere through their
suffering (1:11). This prayer is a
terrible blow to those who teach or believe that having enough faith guarantees
that God will deliver them from circumstances and situations they don't like,
or will give them health and wealth and miracles anytime they ask for
them. Paul prays for God to fulfill the
pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power. He is praying that, as the Thessalonians show
themselves worthy through their endurance and faithfulness in all situations in
this life, God will continue to work faith and Godliness (the pleasure of His
goodness) in them. This faith will
continue to show itself in the increasing and continuing "work of faith
with power." In other words,
faithfulness under trial leads to increased faith, and increased faith leads to
more faithfulness.

The result is that the name of our Lord
is glorified (1:12). This verse is yet
another reminder that the center and meaning of all things is God, not us. We
err greatly when we think God created all things, suffered on the cross, and
endures the constant sin and frustrations of humanity just for us. It was for His own glory and pleasure that we
were created (Rev. 4:11). He has a purpose
for His creation, and He is daily at work bringing it towards His goal, which
is to establish a Kingdom and people for Himself. The goal of God is to bring all things
together in one in Christ (Eph. 1:10).
It is Christ, not we, who is the central figure. It is for His glory that we are saved, and
live, and die, and live with Him forever.

Wednesday
after the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Lectionary

Morning - Ps. 21, 28, 1 Kings 12:25, 2
Thess. 2:1-12

Evening - Ps. 29, 30, Job 5:8-18, Mt.
12:31

Commentary, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Not surprisingly, the Thessalonians still
had questions about the Return of Christ, which Paul answers in this passage. Again,
let us remember that the subject here is Christ's Second Coming to inaugurate
the Day of the Lord (1 Thess. 5:2), or, as Paul calls it here, the day of
Christ (2 Thess. 2:2). It is His Coming to establish the Kingdom of God
on earth in all its full glory and completeness. The Greek word used here is parousia, which carries the meaning of a
royal visit, or coming in royal glory to rule the kingdom. Thus, in 1 Thessalonians we see Christ
returning as the King of Glory, heralded by the trumpet of the Archangel, and issuing
royal commands to the creation (1 Thess. 4:16).
Theologians have spent much time trying to decide whether verse 2 means
to say that the Thessalonians fear the Day of Christ has arrived in fulness, or
that they merely believe it is near, "at hand." Actually, both are correct, for Paul is
arguing against both concepts. He uses a
Greek word that means to be present with, as well as to be impending or
near. so he is saying that the idea that
the Day of the Lord has already come, and the idea that the Day of the Lord is
so immanently near as to make planning for the future and working for a living
unnecessary, are wrong. Those who say it
has already happened are quite obviously wrong, for the world goes on much as
it did before Christ came to earth and worked His wonderful gift of salvation
by the blood of His cross. Evil has been
dealt a death blow, but it still lives, and people live in open and unrepentant
sin. When Christ Returns, all of this
will end. The Day of the Lord will bring
His Kingdom of Righteousness to fulness forever.

Likewise, His return is not so near that
we can put the rest of life on hold to wait for it. This is the most prevalent problem in
Thessalonica, and is one reason why we should agree with the reading in the
King James Version, which tells the Christians of Thessalonica not to fall for
schemes that say the Day of Christ is "at hand," meaning immanent at
any second. Some in Thessalonica, had
stopped working and supplying the needs of themselves and their families
because they believed Jesus would return within the next few days, if not the
next few minutes. Instead of earning
their own living, they spent their time spreading their views in such obnoxious
ways as to make them nothing more than "busybodies" (3:11), who,
because they had not worked to provide for themselves, expected others in the
church to feed and clothe them and their families. This is not according to the "tradition"
(teaching and example) of Paul, and the short answer to this problem is that
"if any would not work, neither should he eat" (3:10).

Paul then tells them that the Lord will
not return until a great "falling away" from the truth occurs within
the Church, and the man of sin is revealed (2:3). This man, also known as the Anti-Christ,
opposes all that Christ stands for, and he does so in such a way that his ways
appear good and godly. While there are
many anti-Christs, there is but one Anti-Christ, and he will ultimately deceive
people into believing in him as God (2:4).
This Anti-Christ appears prior to the Return of Christ, and our Lord
will destroy him at His coming (2:7-9).
All who were deceived by him (10-11) will be destroyed with him at the
Lord's return (2:12). So this event will occur prior to the Lord's Return.

Each generation has read this passage and
thought it was in the time of the falling away and the man of sin. In a sense they were right, for the spirit of
anti-Christ is always strong in the world because the general nature of fallen
humanity is inclined towards it. People
have noted the moral decline of culture, and have noted many wicked people,
whom they thought might be the Anti-Christ.
But Paul seems to indicate that there will be no doubt in the Church as
to the Anti-Christ's identity. We will
know him when he appears. Until then, we
are to devote ourselves to Godliness and faith, not idle speculation.

Thursday
after the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Lectionary

Morning - Ps.27, 1 Kings 16:29, 2 Thess.
2:13-3:5

Evening - Ps. 31, Job 10:1-18, Mt.
13:1-23

Commentary

2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5

Doom and destruction await the man of sin
and all who reject the Gospel of salvation in Christ alone (2:10-12). What a contrast this is to the state of those
who believe in Christ unto salvation. We
may tremble for those who do not believe, but we, like Paul give thanks for
those chosen for salvation (2:13-14). We
give thanks that we are sanctified by the Spirit and enabled to believe the
truth. We know we were called into this
grace by the proclamation of the Gospel.
Note that Paul calls it "our Gospel" (2:14). He does not mean it belongs to him, or that
he made it up. He means it is the Gospel
Christ gave to the Church through the Apostles, and which Paul and the other
Apostles preach and teach. It is what is
often called the "Apostolic Faith."

Paul's desired outcome of enduring
hardship and persecution to preach the Apostolic Faith is that those who
receive it will continue in it until the Lord receives them into Heaven
forever. Thus, he encourages the
Thessalonians to "stand fast," a military term meaning to stand your
ground in the face of enemy attack (2:15).
They are to "hold" or embrace the "tradition which ye
have been taught." This is not the tradition of men which the Pharisees
produced and followed in preference to the Scriptures. It is the Gospel and the knowledge of Christ
given by Christ through the Apostles. At
the time of Paul's writing, it is probable that the Gospels of Matthew, Luke
and John, had not been written. So the
Church relied on the testimony of the Apostles as guided by the Holy Spirit
(Jn. 16:12 and 13). During their ministry
it is likely that the Apostles began to write some things down, and as they
aged, they compiled the Gospel accounts.
But only the Gospel of Peter, known to us as "Mark" because
Mark wrote it as Peter dictated it, existed, at the time Paul wrote 1 and 2
Thessalonians, and the Thessalonians did not have a copy.

More of the joy of the Christian, as
opposed to the doom of the unbeliever, is expressed through a benediction found
in verses 16 and 17. It is basically a
prayer that all the good things Christ died and rose again to procure for His
people, would be given in abundance. to the Thessalonians. These are the things that will comfort their
hearts; things like faith, hope, assurance that they are in Christ and that His
promise of forgiveness and Heaven will not fail. Having this comfort, Paul prays that they
will be established in every good word and work.

In 3:1-2 Paul asks the people to pray for
him. He asks that the word of the Lord, the Gospel, would have "free
course, and be glorified." "Free
course" means to run free, to be unhampered so it may go where it
will. Paul is asking that it will not be
hampered by him, either by his own human frailties, or by the persecution he
faces for it. He is asking that
persecution and trials would not stop him from proclaiming the Gospel. That the Gospel would be
"glorified" means that people will receive it in faith and become
followers of Christ: that they will recognise it as the word of God, as the
truth, and will honour it in their lives and in their hearts, regardless of
opposition, persecution, or cost.

His confidence is not in people, but in
the Lord (3:4). The Lord is faithful and
will establish them in the faith, keep them from evil and enable them to do
what Paul commands them as their Apostle and pastor in the Lord.

The last phrase of verse 5 is important
in the context of the earlier discussion of the Return of Christ. Paul prays for them to be directed "into
the patient waiting for Christ." He
asks them not to become distracted from the daily Christian life and their
regular duties in this world, by a constant preoccupation with the time of the
Lord's Return. They are to look for His
Return. They are to live in anticipation
of it. They are even to pray for it,
"Thy kingdom come." And they
are to be patient, tending to the business of being God's Church on earth until
that Day arrives.

Friday
after the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Lectionary

Morning - Ps.37:1-24, 1 Kings 17:1-16, 2
Thess. 3:6-17

Evening - Ps. 22, Job 11:7, Mt. 13:24-43

Commentary, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-17

There is a God-ordained order, or,
pattern for life. It revolves around God
and consists of faith, worship, love, and work.
We could express it as; love God, love your neighbor (especially those
of your own household), go to Church, and find a useful occupation to provide
for your needs and honour God.

A small group of people in the ThessalonianChurch were not living by this pattern.
They were, "walking disorderly" (3:6). They were not carousing or fornicating, but
neither were they living by the pattern of life God intended. Their primary departure from the pattern was
that they had stopped working for a living and were expecting the others in the
church to feed and clothe them and their families. Why? They believed the Return of the Lord to
bring in the fulness of the Day of the Lord, was so immanent that it made all
preparations for future life on earth meaningless. These people believed the Second Coming would
occur within the next few weeks, or even within the next few minutes (2 Thess.
2:1-2). Therefore, they had stopped
working and caring for themselves and their families, expecting others in the
church to clothe and feed them. Thus,
Paul exhorts and commands them, "that with quietness they work and eat
their own bread."

Paul and the evangelists exemplified this
when they were in Thessalonica, working night and day to both preach the Gospel
and provide for their own expenses (3:7-9).
Though they had the right, as do all ministers of Christ's Church, to
receive a wage for their work, just as any other person in any other honourable
occupation, Paul and his companions did not want to burden the new Christians,
so they earned their meager living by working another job in addition to
their labours in the Gospel. The implication is that, if Paul can provide
for himself, so can the Thessalonians.
And Paul offers himself and his conduct as an example to the disorderly
in Thessalonica (3:9). The word used in
the original Greek is the word from which we get our English word,
"mimic." So Paul is exhorting
these people to mimic him and his companions by returning to work and providing
for themselves.

Those who refuse to live by this teaching
(tradition) are to be avoided (3:6).
This is not formal church discipline, and it is certainly not
excommunication, for the people are to be treated as brothers rather than
unbelievers (3:15). It does mean those
who work are not to enable idleness in others by feeding and caring for
them. They are to stop subsidising the
sin of idleness and let every one live by the rule "that if any would not
work, neither should he eat" (3:10).

Paul closes his exhortations with a
prayer that the Lord of peace Himself will give His peace to the Thessalonians
(3:16). The disorderliness of some has
caused disruption in the peace of the Church and the lives of its members. Their disorder is in stark contrast to the
Lord of peace. His ways are the ways of
peace. His order for quiet Godliness
brings peace. So this is a prayer that the Thessalonians will return to His
ways and restore His peace in the church.
"By all means" refers to the means by which God works peace in
His people. These are usually the
ordinary means, rather than miraculous gifts.
Peace comes through trusting God with this life and the next, and by
accepting what He gives. It comes
through living peacefully with others and by conducting ourselves humbly and
lovingly toward others, with words and actions that promote peace rather than
instigate hostility. It comes from
hearts and minds that are being transformed and renewed by constant immersion
in the Scriptures, the Church, and all the means of grace. These things work peace in us individually
and corporately.

Verse 17 simply tells us that Paul wrote it
with his own hand as proof that the letter is from him. The rest of the epistle was probably written
by someone else as he dictated it. Verse
18 closes the epistle with a benediction very characteristic of Paul and full
of his love and hopes for the Thessalonians.
Like all Scripture, it is not just for those first recipients, but for
all of God's people in all times and all places; "The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."

Saturday
after the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Lectionary

Morning - Ps.37:25-41 1 Kings 17:17,
James 1:1-11

Evening - Ps. 145, Job 12:1-10, Mt.
13:31-52

Commentary, James 1:1-11

James gave us one of the earliest of the
New Testament writings, dating from around the year 48 A.D. Its audience is clearly Jewish and its
purpose is to instruct Jewish Christians who fled Jerusalem during the persecution that
followed the stoning of Stephen in Acts 8:1 (Jas. 1:1). Today's reading encourages Christians to
remain faithful, even under persecution, and gives a critically important
picture of what God is doing in the lives of His people. God is not trying to give us lives of ease:
He is forming us into new people, new beings who are being renewed in every
aspect of our being. He is sanctifying
us, and preparing us to dwell in Heaven with Him forever. In this process He is weaning us from earth
and leading us to value, love, and trust Him more and more. Rather than delivering us from our trials and
hardships, He uses them to draw us to Himself and to teach us to trust in Him.

In short, His purpose is to develop Godliness in
us. As James wrote, He is working to
make us "perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (1:4). Our trials are often the tools He uses to
increase us in Godliness. Every trial is
a temptation to desert God and return to sin.
Every temptation is an opportunity to choose God over self; to choose to
follow Him in faith, or to run back to sin.
Thus, in temptation, our faith is exercised. It is tried, it is tested, it is made
stronger as the body is made stronger with physical exercise. Perseverance, or, endurance, is the kind of
patience this trying of faith produces in us. And those who persevere become
more faithful and more Godly. Paul may
have been thinking of this passage in James when he wrote Romans 5:1-4. The pattern in both passages is the same:
tribulation works patience, patience produces experience, and experience
produces hope. The end result of
faithfulness in trouble is Godliness, and Godliness is the goal of God for His
people

"In
the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the
world." These words of Christ in John. 16:33 do not surprise those of us
who have had some experience with the ways of the world. We know we live in a fallen world, a world
where people often do bad things, a world in which we often suffer as the
result of other peoples' sins. We know
this, not as theory, but as fact verified by our own hard experience in life.
We know this as fact verified by the teachings of Scripture. Ephesians 4 reminds us of the tribulations of
St. Paul. Luke 14 records the opposition
Jesus faced from the scribes and Pharisees who exalted themselves above God. We remember the words of Christ in Matthew
10:24 and 25:

"The disciple is
not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as
his master, and the servant as his lord.
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more
shall they call them of his household?"

But
we are fallen creatures, too, and we know that much of our tribulation is
self-inflicted as we reap what we have sown.
Psalm 25 is the prayer of a person experiencing deep tribulation partly
because of the actions of others, and partly because he is reaping the natural
consequences of what he has sown through his own actions and decisions. But the Psalm is not a complaint about the
writer's tribulation, it is a prayer of faith. It is an expression of trust in God. David, in
the midst of all his troubles writes,
"Unto thee, O Lord, will I lift up my soul; my God, I have put my
trust in thee."

David
trusts God to teach him the ways of God.
"Show me thy ways," he prays. "Teach me thy paths. Lead
me forth in thy truth." How can we
possibly know God? How can we ever hope
to know what He wants from us, or wants to give to us? He must show us. And He has shown us. He is revealed in nature, for "The
heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament showeth his handy
work" (Ps. 19:1). And there is
something inside of us that knows about God, an instinctive knowledge that we
ought to live and be better than we are, and that we will give an account of
our sins one day. Thus Romans 2:15 tells
us the law of God is written in our hearts.
So, through nature and through His law written on our hearts we are able
to discern the invisible attributes of God, "even his eternal power and
Godhead," says Romans 1:20. But
this revelation is incomplete. It does
not tell us how to worship God, or how the Church is to be ordered, or how to
live for God at work and at home, or how to build a Godly family or a Godly
nation. But most of all, it does not really tell us of God's mercy. It does not really tell us of God's
everlasting love. It does not tell us
how to find forgiveness of sin, or how to find peace with God.

This
was accomplished by God sending prophets and teachers to give and instruct us
in the moral law of the Old Testament.
God also gave the ceremonial law through them, which points us to the
Great Salvation He would accomplish for us in Christ, of whom the Temple and
sacrifices were symbols and shadows. It
is Christ who ultimately reveals God, for "he hath declared him" (Jn.
1:18). Christ taught the revelation of
God to the disciples, and commissioned them to proclaim it to all people (Mt.
28:19-20). He also commissioned them to
teach and ordain others who would, in turn, teach others (2 Tim.2:2). The
Apostles recorded the ministry and teachings of Christ for us in the Bible, and
it is the standard by which all other teachers and doctrines are measured.

David
trusts God to forgive his sins. He trusts God to "Remember not" his
"sins and offenses" "Be
merciful unto my sin" he cries in verse 10, "for it is
great." It is Christ who
accomplishes the forgiveness of our sin.
The rituals and ceremonies of the Old Testament ceremonial law were
symbols and shadows of Christ, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of
the world. We "have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:14). He died for our sins, and "whosoever
believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life" (Jn. 3:16).

David
trusts in God for many other things. In
verse 5 it is for continuing mercy. In
verse 14 it is for defense from enemies.
I would like us to focus on verses 12, 16, and 21 as we come to the
close of the sermon. Verse 12 says of
the man who fears God, that means reverent love combined with respectful fear,
"His soul shall dwell at ease."
God will give that person peace in his soul, and nothing in this world
or the next can take that peace away. It
is the peace that passes all understanding.
It is the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ which the world cannot give or
even understand. It is the peace that
comes from the knowledge that "all things work together for good to them
that love God" and that nothing "shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:28, 35-39).

This
does not mean we will never see troubles.
It does mean God is with us, even when we face trials, and His grace is
sufficient for us at all times. David,
in the beloved Twenty-third Psalm, said he would fear no evil even in the
valley of the shadow of death. He said God
prepares a table for him "in the presence of [his] enemies." The enemies were still there. The wolves were still lurking and prowling,
often in open view of the sheep. Yet God
had brought him into green pastures and beside still waters, and God
continually "restoreth" David's soul.
God had something for him even in the presence of enemies and
troubles. Now, today, God is with
us. God has peace and grace and blessings
for us, today, in this life, in this world of troubles and wolves and wolves in
sheep's clothing. He is leading us into
us His will and guiding us into His ways, and He will not allow the trials of
this world to ultimately defeat us. We
can be of "good cheer" because He has "overcome the world."

Finally,
David trusts God to "Deliver Israel, O God, out of all his troubles"
(vs. 21). This is one of the verses upon
which our "Prayer for all Conditions of Men" bases the request to
give us a "happy issue out of all [our] afflictions." We have no delusions that the world is going
to love us and welcome Christ into its heart today. But we do believe a better world is coming,
and in that world all the cares and troubles of this world will be over because
God will finally, completely, and forever deliver Israel, that's us, out of all
his troubles.

"O
most loving Father, who willest us to give thanks for all things, to dread
nothing but the loss of thee, and to cast all our care on thee, who carest for
us; Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, and grant that no
clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which is
immortal, and which thou hast manifested in us in thy Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen."

A Prayer for Biblical Understanding

Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given to us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

About Me

The Rt. Rev. R. Dennis Campbell is Bishop of the Anglican Orthodox Church Diocese of Virginia, and Rector of Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church in Powhatan, Virginia. He is the author of two books, He Shall Reign, and Gotta Run, and holds degrees from Southwest Baptist University, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.